The West is urging Israel to reduce fighting in Gaza after six months. But a large part of the Israeli population believes that the war must continue. Why is that?
For Netanel Raisch it is still an epochal war. Raisch is a column leader in the Israeli army’s Givati Brigade. Since the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip began, the reservist has been shuttling between home and the front. He rarely sees his wife and five children, and his drinking water quality control systems company is making losses. Raisch still has no doubts about the effort.
“Israel’s history is at a turning point,” he said star reached him on his cell phone at the end of last week. He is at the wheel, heading south towards Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, where his unit is stationed. A few weeks ago, Raisch and his men took part in the spectacular rescue of two hostages in neighboring Rafah, one of the rare successes in this longest campaign by the Israeli armed forces since the 1980s.
“If my children or grandchildren ask me later about this time,” says Raisch, “then I want to be able to tell them: I did everything I could to support my country. This country that my parents and grandparents built.” A few years ago, Raisch visited his grandmother’s birthplace in Berlin-Neukölln. Shortly after “Kristallnacht” she managed to escape to Palestine at the last minute.
The war in the Gaza Strip actually seems to have reached a turning point – albeit in a different way than Netanel Raisch believes it should.